Evaluating professional experience and mentoring in the preparation and induction of teachers for the teaching profession. ? Quality teachers make a difference? (DEST Report, 2003, p1). Possible strategies for the recruitment and retention of high quality teachers to the profession include providing a high quality professional experience component together with effective mentoring for beginning teachers in induction programs. The outcomes of this project will include the articulation of ?high qu ....Evaluating professional experience and mentoring in the preparation and induction of teachers for the teaching profession. ? Quality teachers make a difference? (DEST Report, 2003, p1). Possible strategies for the recruitment and retention of high quality teachers to the profession include providing a high quality professional experience component together with effective mentoring for beginning teachers in induction programs. The outcomes of this project will include the articulation of ?high quality? professional experiences, the development of an instrument for evaluating the effectiveness of mentoring in programs such as induction programs and provide evidence on the effectiveness of such programs.Read moreRead less
Federalism in Australian schooling: Its impact upon quality and equity. The project is designed to support the objectives for schooling in Australia that have been identified by the Council of Australian Governments. These objectives are in the face of growing inequities in the distribution of educational resources, growing concentrations of students with high levels of educational needs, and imbalances in the distribution of resources across key stages, especially in early childhood education. ....Federalism in Australian schooling: Its impact upon quality and equity. The project is designed to support the objectives for schooling in Australia that have been identified by the Council of Australian Governments. These objectives are in the face of growing inequities in the distribution of educational resources, growing concentrations of students with high levels of educational needs, and imbalances in the distribution of resources across key stages, especially in early childhood education. By examining the ways in which federalism contributes to the structural barriers to these objectives and by developing and validating a set of structural reforms the project will contribute to these national objectives. Read moreRead less
Active citizenship of young people through electoral enrolment. Some 300,000 eighteen to twenty-four year old Australians are not enrolled to vote in federal elections, despite compulsory voting. Consequently they do not exercise their rights, and their responsibilities, as citizens in this way. The Australian Ele ctoral C ommission and the researchers will determine why these young Australians are not enrolled and do not vote. We will identify the characteristics of non-participants particularl ....Active citizenship of young people through electoral enrolment. Some 300,000 eighteen to twenty-four year old Australians are not enrolled to vote in federal elections, despite compulsory voting. Consequently they do not exercise their rights, and their responsibilities, as citizens in this way. The Australian Ele ctoral C ommission and the researchers will determine why these young Australians are not enrolled and do not vote. We will identify the characteristics of non-participants particularly those from rural and regional areas. Outcomes include identification of non-enrolled youth and appropriate interventions to engage young Australians to become active, democratic citizens....Read moreRead less
Generating Science Content Knowledge through Digital Animation in a Knowledge-building Community of Preservice Teachers. Sustaining Australia's growth and prosperity is dependent on continuous innovation in the teaching of science. Yet science is one of the least taught subjects in the primary curriculum because teachers lack content knowledge and confidence. This research engages preservice primary teachers in using new technologies to develop their understanding of science content knowledge th ....Generating Science Content Knowledge through Digital Animation in a Knowledge-building Community of Preservice Teachers. Sustaining Australia's growth and prosperity is dependent on continuous innovation in the teaching of science. Yet science is one of the least taught subjects in the primary curriculum because teachers lack content knowledge and confidence. This research engages preservice primary teachers in using new technologies to develop their understanding of science content knowledge through digital animation and to collaborate with other preservice teachers interstate and internationally. The products and processes of digital animation will help maintain and expand Australia's base as a knowledge economy as well as provide a social benefit of improved science teaching in schools. Read moreRead less
Realising Gifted Students' Potential: Elucidating psychosocial determinants and the impact of different educational settings on educational outcomes and psychosocial wellbeing. As current gifted students are expected to provide future leaders in all fields of endeavour, there is an increasing emphasis in Australia and worldwide on how to educate gifted students most effectively. Our proposed research will improve Australia's capacity to educate gifted students by: informing practice on how best ....Realising Gifted Students' Potential: Elucidating psychosocial determinants and the impact of different educational settings on educational outcomes and psychosocial wellbeing. As current gifted students are expected to provide future leaders in all fields of endeavour, there is an increasing emphasis in Australia and worldwide on how to educate gifted students most effectively. Our proposed research will improve Australia's capacity to educate gifted students by: informing practice on how best to select students to participate in gifted education; maximising the potential of gifted young Australians; and providing guidance for future intervention strategies. This research will contribute substantially to further actualising Australia's claim to be the clever country and will have important implications for the future of gifted education.Read moreRead less
Enhancing basic academic skills of low-achieving students: the role of automaticity in numeracy, reading and comprehension. The project is designed to improve the basic reading and numeracy skills of low-achieving school students. The aim of the research is to investigate the effects of improved automaticity of basic skills on higher-order processes such as comprehension and problem solving. The underlying rationale for the program is that improving automaticity in component skills, such as dec ....Enhancing basic academic skills of low-achieving students: the role of automaticity in numeracy, reading and comprehension. The project is designed to improve the basic reading and numeracy skills of low-achieving school students. The aim of the research is to investigate the effects of improved automaticity of basic skills on higher-order processes such as comprehension and problem solving. The underlying rationale for the program is that improving automaticity in component skills, such as decoding or calculating, frees up working memory resources. This freeing up of resources allows students to focus on inherently attention demanding higher-order cognitive activities, of the sort increasingly required of students in the middle school years.Read moreRead less
Challenging Pedagogies: Engaging ESL students in intellectual quality. This project will investigate the potential and meaning of intellectual challenge in the enacted curriculum of middle year classes with signficant numbers of English as a second language (ESL) students. It will build on outcomes of our previous research on scaffolding and on productive pedagogies to articulate the nature of linguistic and conceptual support necessary for ESL students to engage successfully with high challeng ....Challenging Pedagogies: Engaging ESL students in intellectual quality. This project will investigate the potential and meaning of intellectual challenge in the enacted curriculum of middle year classes with signficant numbers of English as a second language (ESL) students. It will build on outcomes of our previous research on scaffolding and on productive pedagogies to articulate the nature of linguistic and conceptual support necessary for ESL students to engage successfully with high challenge tasks. In doing so, it will address the priority area of quality teaching in public schools from a classroom prespective and from the perspective of ESL students. The project has implications for teacher education and professional development.Read moreRead less
Design experiments in ICT in education research. How to use information and communication technologies (ICT) to improve teaching and learning outcomes has become a critical question for educators world-wide. Governments are investing hugely in hardware, software and infrastructure to support the use of technologies but the research conducted into their effective use in inadequate. This proposal will investigate a relatively new methodology, design experiments, that has potential to provide the b ....Design experiments in ICT in education research. How to use information and communication technologies (ICT) to improve teaching and learning outcomes has become a critical question for educators world-wide. Governments are investing hugely in hardware, software and infrastructure to support the use of technologies but the research conducted into their effective use in inadequate. This proposal will investigate a relatively new methodology, design experiments, that has potential to provide the basis for enhancing both pedagogy and outcomes through technology integration. The research will determine the major principles, methods and critical characteristics of design experiments, and develop guidelines for their use in ICT research.Read moreRead less
The impact of attitudes and policies relating to obesity and related health issues on school policy and practices. Governments have made and are continuing to make substantial investments in policies, strategies and research to address the perceived risk of obesity and related health issues. Schools in particular have been targeted to address the issue. This research seeks to inform public policy and school practices by examining how the new health imperatives are being taken up by schools. It w ....The impact of attitudes and policies relating to obesity and related health issues on school policy and practices. Governments have made and are continuing to make substantial investments in policies, strategies and research to address the perceived risk of obesity and related health issues. Schools in particular have been targeted to address the issue. This research seeks to inform public policy and school practices by examining how the new health imperatives are being taken up by schools. It will examine how these imperatives are shaping schools' priorities and teaching about health, and how this, in turn, influences young people's attitudes and understandings of their own and others' health, in particular in relation to physical activity and food.Read moreRead less
Innovative Approaches to Shakespeare and Literature Research in Australian Universities and Secondary Schools. Barker College and the University of Sydney unite in a major research initiative to tackle pressing issues in Australian humanities education with the express purpose of promoting an innovation culture and economy (National Research Priority 3, Goal 5). The project executes groundbreaking research into the teaching and learning of Shakespeare and the literary-critical skills of school a ....Innovative Approaches to Shakespeare and Literature Research in Australian Universities and Secondary Schools. Barker College and the University of Sydney unite in a major research initiative to tackle pressing issues in Australian humanities education with the express purpose of promoting an innovation culture and economy (National Research Priority 3, Goal 5). The project executes groundbreaking research into the teaching and learning of Shakespeare and the literary-critical skills of school and university students. The core research partnership, website and conference together deliver a shared-knowledge approach to determining innovative and effective new models for teaching and learning in the humanities. The project seeks wide participation from, and delivers diverse pedagogical benefits to, all Australian schools and universities.Read moreRead less